Journal backs Keystone XL pipeline plan

By THE CANADIAN PRESSPublished January 31, 2013 - 6:15pm Last Updated January 31, 2013 - 6:18pm

WASHINGTON — A prestigious science journal has gone to bat for TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, urging the White House to approve the controversial project.

“The administration should face down critics of the project, ensure that environmental standards are met and then approve it,” Nature said in an editorial this week.

The editorial, entitled “Change For Good,” argued that the pipeline won’t determine whether the oilsands are developed.

“Nor is oil produced from the Canadian tarsands as dirty from a climate perspective as many believe (some of the oil produced in California, without attention from environmentalists, is worse),” the editorial reads.

“Tarsands development raises serious air- and water-quality issues in Canada, but these problems are well outside Obama’s jurisdiction.”